Long ago
images chipped
in the black varnish
of a red stone wall
now hold the visitor
and archaeologist
in awe
of age-old mysteries,

(for
posterity
or a moment of fame
graffiti
is spray-painted on trains,
vandals, defiant,
leave their names
or those of gangs,
hallucinating thrill
of artwork in the night)

we try
to explain
the sacred rites
of the ancients
whose spiral shapes
show cosmic patterns,
whose animal forms,
are namesakes of clans
and protective spirits,

(placas
mark the walls,
staking claim to turf
in the barrios,
neighborhoods
where nicknames
protect from rivalry
and anonymity
in hostile streets)

signs of
a spiritual passage
mark the journey
on a pilgrimage trail,
ground now preserved
as national treasure,
relics of our history,

(at
the roadside rest
initials carved
in a bench
mark the passage
of the negligent,
scrawls in toilet stalls
lack respect,
“fools names
and fools faces
seen in public places”)

footprint
of a bear,
stick shapes, a family,
a maiden carved in stone
with symbolic hair,
horned beasts,
snakes,
flowing lines,
figure eights,
reveal a sacred purpose,
messages of reverence
of a holy time
when nature was respected
and a stone wall
was a shrine.